Sure. And considering that such a claim is so very generic, one would think it has no real chance of holding up to scrutiny. Yet here we are. The patent, exemplifying the shoddiness of the US Patent Office, was granted. Back in 2001, two years after it was filed. And for over a month now, Mr Goldberg has been working to get some recompense for damages. What damages, precisely? We don’t know. And we couldn’t care enough to find out, considering the ridiculousness of the situation Goldberg has forced upon the abovementioned businesses.

The argument to be exercised by the EFF is one of prior art. The Foundation documents Netrek, “an online multiplayer game with origins in the mid-1980s” as having made use of “the same technology described in Goldberg’s patent.” Ars Technica’s Eric Bangeman went on to reveal that Netrek has long been an open source system, and was distributed freely via Usenet as far back as 1989.

One can’t help but offer up words of support to the EFF for driving for justice in this instances, as it has it many others. Goldberg could do with a little legal admonishment. And neither should the US Patent Office be free of any criticisms here.

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